Art Berke, a lifelong White Sox fan, has worked at the highest levels of the sports industry with Major League Baseball, ABC Television and Sports Illustrated. He grew up in Northwest Indiana, in the shadow of old Comiskey Park, and proudly proclaims 2005 as the best year of his life. Art offers his glass half-full opinions and observations as he lives and dies with the Sox.

Buehrle: Don’t Blame Ozzie

After the 2-4 road trip, which ended in a blown ninth-inning save and a 14-inning loss, Ozzie felt compelled to address the troops before last night’s contest. Included in his comments was a plea to the Sox that they play hard in the final 15 games. Following the 11-0 horror at the hands of the Royals, the pep talk obviously didn’t have any short term impact.

Since there are really no game highlights to report, I’ll let Mark Buehrle sum up Ozzie’s talk and the Sox status:

“Everyone watching us knows we are not playing good. We are not in a good spot and we put ourselves in that spot. But you can’t blame Ozzie. He’s trying to pump us up and get us going and trying to get us to play good. But it’s on the guys.”

Note of the day: It’s Jake Peavy on the mound tonight and Tyler Flowers as the DH. I’m not ready to give up on this season despite all the evidence to the contrary, but there’s no harm in looking at this as a sneak preview of 2010.

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